Rainbow Six Siege: Outbreak Adds Character (Not Just Aliens)

The stakes are usually pretty high in Rainbow Six Siege. Protect the hostage, disarm the bomb, contain a biological outbreak precipitated by an extraterrestrial pathogen. The last one’s new.

Yes, as strange as it sounds, an alien virus really is the latest threat to face Siege’s global band of elite operators. As part of the wider Chimera season, Outbreak ushers in the game’s third year with its most eccentric, character-driven content to date.

Outbreak contains three missions set across entirely new locations with individual narratives. The missions are titled Sierra Veterans Wing, The Nest, and Sierra Paradise, and take place in a hospital, junkyard, and hotel respectively. Unlike the game’s core mode, which focuses on a tense, short-lived encounter set in a single location, Outbreak’s missions are much more flowing, chaotic, playing out more like sections you’d find in a more traditional campaign mode.

The mission I played was set in a hospital overrun by the infected. The Rainbow Six team is sent in to extract Dr. McIntosh, whose promising research may hold the key to neutralising the virus. Teams are assembled from three operators drawn from a limited pool, which includes the two new Attackers Finka and Lion. I think this is less about limiting abilities, and choosing to focus on specific characters this time around.

Exit Theatre Mode

Initially, playing Outbreak doesn’t feel very much like Rainbow Six. The more immediate comparison that sprang to mind was Left 4 Dead. You’re soon mobbed by grotesquely-deformed, slobbering creatures and tear through ammo trying to put them down. But beneath the chaos that inevitably comes with adding monsters, what you’re tasking with doing – extracting and escorting a VIP, breaching and barricading rooms – is distinctly Rainbow Six.

The alien virus manifests in five enemy types. Grunts are the most common, and look recognisably human and unthreatening until disturbed – at which point, they’ll start to mutate, sprout angry-red spikes from their backs, howl, and charge towards you. But if you can land a headshot from a distance, you’ll be able to stem some of the chaos and burn a path to your next objective.

Other humans have been less fortunate, mutating into much more disgusting abominations. Breachers are insect-like creatures, carrying distended sacks of bile-yellow fluid. But despite their exotic appearance, there’s a familiar equivalent already in the game: they’re a bit like the suicide bombers you find in Terrorist Hunt. Once they see you, they’ll race towards you, in the hope of detonating in your face. But if you can aim at their sacks, you can safely defuse them from a distance. Even though the overall tempo is much more manic, it still pays to scout an upcoming area and eliminate enemies in the most efficient way.

But the most threatening, by far, is the Smasher, a hulking armoured creature that charges through the map knocking down operators like skittles. It’s blind, but can be lured with the sound of gunfire. It’s only weakness is an exposed wound on its back. So to take it down, you must work as a team – one of you must draw its attention, while another flanks it from the rear. Again, beneath the rather fantastical skin, this is a familiar Rainbow Six scenario – it’s taking down an enemy with a shield. It just happens to manifest as a rather big angry alien.

Outbreak may initially seem like an odd addition to Siege, but it’s adding something to the game that’s been absent since launch. Outbreak for the first time really lets us know more about the game’s operators, characters like Doc and Ash. While on a mission to extract Dr. Mackintosh, I was constantly being updated by Thermite, who dismissively refers to the infected as ‘roaches’ in need of exterminating. At the end of the mission, you have to make it to a helipad on top of the hospital for Jäger to extract you. We’ve always known Jäger was a pilot from his helmet and headset, but it’s satisfying to finally see it in action. Outbreak isn’t some piece of weird speculative fiction, but the first step in turning these operators, who have so far been little more than personified loadouts, into real characters.

Outbreak is a limited-time event and will be available as part of the Chimera season which is scheduled to start on March 6.

Daniel is IGN’s UK Managing Editor. You can be part of the world’s most embarrassing cult by following him on IGN and Twitter.